Ergonomic Miswak Toothbrush with Replaceable Brush Heads

ABSTRACT

A toothbrush having two ends. Along the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush is the first end having a handle with an indention on the top side for thumb placement and an indention on the back side for pointer finger placement. Along the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush is the second end having a segment of a miswak branch held via an interference fit. The exposed segment of the miswak branch being held by the second end of the toothbrush is debarked and frayed having a bristle-like effect.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a device for oral care and hygiene. The devicerelates to the conventional toothbrush. The brush head of the device iscomposed of a portion of a debarked branch of the salvadora Persica treeor miswak and is replaceable. Miswak branch fibers also offer similarbenefits that conventional toothbrushes offer without needing to useoral compositions.

Present conventional toothbrushes are used in conjunction with oralcompositions having abrasive particles to clean the surface of theteeth. Present conventional toothbrushes are made of nylon bristlesstapled into one end of the toothbrush handle. The texture of thebristles can range from soft to hard. The bristles are arranged to fitthe cleaning specifications listed by the designer of the particulartoothbrush. Before nylon bristles, hog bristles were used. However, hogbristles are not as durable as nylon and do not retain its texture whenwet.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention shall incorporate by reference the provisionalpatent application 62/069,718. The present invention is a toothbrushhaving two ends made of synthetic plastics and copolyesters. Along thelongitudinal axis of the toothbrush is the first end having a handlewith an indention on the top side for thumb placement and an indentionon the back side for pointer finger placement. The first end is alsotapered as the cross-sectional area gets smaller as the outward end ofthe first end is approached. Along the longitudinal axis of thetoothbrush is the second end having a segment of a miswak branch held bya groove in the second end of the toothbrush via an interference fit.The exposed segment of the miswak branch being held by the second end ofthe toothbrush is debarked and frayed to have a bristle-like effect. Themiswak brush can be used without water or oral compositions liketoothpaste to produce the same hygienic results as produced with the useof a conventional toothbrush and oral compositions.

The miswak branch pieces are replaceable and are slid in and out fromthe toothbrush second end or head end. About half of the miswak branchpiece is debarked and that portion is above the surface of thetoothbrush groove used to hold the miswak branch piece.

The foregoing is a broad description of the present invention for theunderstanding of those skilled in the art. Design modifications can bemade from the broad description without departing from the spirit andscope of the broad description of the present invention. A more detaileddescription with illustrations follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a partial front, top and side view or an angled view of atoothbrush in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a back view of the toothbrush of FIG. 1 in accordance with theprinciples of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the miswak branch piece insert of thetoothbrush of FIG. 2 in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a partial front, top and side view or an angled view of thetoothbrush of FIG. 3 without the miswak branch piece inserted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The principle use of the present invention is to clean the surface ofthe teeth. Injection molding and the manual assembly of the plastic andtree parts are the principle methods of manufacture. Referring to FIG. 1there is shown a partial front, top and side view or an angled view of atoothbrush 10 in accordance with the principles of the invention.Toothbrush 10 has a tapered handle at the first end 12 with an indentionon the top side for thumb placement. The diameter of the handle goesfrom about 13 mm to 10 mm as the outward end of the first end isapproached. The second end 14 of toothbrush 10 has a groove that opensto the top side and the groove holds the miswak branch piece 20 orpieces. The groove of the second end 14 is not completely open on thetop side in order to provide an interference fit between its surface andthe miswak branch piece 20 or pieces.

Referring to FIG. 2 there is shown the back of toothbrush 10. Thebackside of the first end 12 of toothbrush 10 has an indention 18 forthe placement of the side of the pointer finger.

Referring to FIG. 3 there is shown a miswak branch piece 20 inaccordance with the principles of the invention. The miswak branch piece20 has a debarked end 22 for cleaning the teeth and a non-debarked end24 that is to be inserted into the groove of the second end 14 oftoothbrush 10.

Referring to FIG. 4 there is shown a partial front, top and side view oftoothbrush 10 without the miswak branch piece or pieces in order tobetter see the groove of the second end 14.

Referring to FIG. 4 there is shown the plastic handle of the toothbrush10 in accordance with the principles of the invention.

1. A toothbrush having two ends; a first end having a handle thatlinearly increases in circumference toward the second end with anindention on the top side at the thicker end of the first end for thumbplacement and an indention on the back side at the thicker end of thefirst end for pointer finger placement, the second end having a segmentor segments of a miswak branch held by a rectangular groove in thesecond end of the toothbrush via a transition fit.
 2. The toothbrush ofclaim 1 wherein said groove of the second end is open at the outer endof the second end as to allow for the removal and resetting of a miswakbranch piece or pieces.
 3. The toothbrush of claim 2 wherein said miswakbranch piece or pieces have grooves cut into the side to facilitate itsfit into the groove of the said second end of the toothbrush.
 4. Thetoothbrush of claim 3 wherein said miswak branch piece or pieces aredebarked on the top half to be exposed to the tooth surface.
 5. Thetoothbrush of claim 4 wherein said miswak branch piece or pieces are notdebarked on the bottom half to be inserted into the groove of the secondend.
 6. The toothbrush of claim 5 wherein the said miswak branch pieceor pieces are fitted into the said second end via a transition fitbetween the groove of the second end and the miswak branch piece orpieces.
 7. The toothbrush of claim of 6 wherein the said groove secondend is a partially enclosed rectangular box shape where the top part ofthe groove is about ninety percent open to provide a transition fit forthe miswak branch piece or pieces and where the side closes to theoutward end of the said second end is open to allow easy slide in andout of the miswak branch piece or pieces.
 8. (canceled)